The men's basketball team lost a heartbreaker on Wednesday night, falling 75-72 to the Birmingham Southern College (Ala.) Panthers despite a frantic second-half comeback. The loss dropped the Eagles to 4-2 on the season.
"I'm not really satisfied with our performance," Head Coach Jason Zimmerman said. "We're better than we played."
It was a tale of two halves for the Eagles who fell behind by double digits just ten minutes into the first half on a three-pointer from Panthers senior guard Kevin Kegarise.
Senior guard Alex Greven stressed the need for the team to start faster.
"It's extremely important to start off the game with energy," he said. "Playing hard for 20 minutes does not win games. We have to play for 40 minutes."
Kegarise's shot sparked an 11-0 BSC run that pushed the lead to 39-21 with 5:36 left in the half.
He led all scorers on the night with 21 points, including 15 in the first half, all off three-pointers.
Greven trimmed the lead to 14 with five points in the final minute of the first half coming on a three-pointer and a pair of free throws.
BSC shot a blistering 60.7 percent in the first half, including 68.8 percent from three-point range.
The Eagles shot 40.7 percent in the opening 20 minutes, paced by Greven's eight points and junior forward Jake Davis' nine.
"We didn't come up with a lot of 50/50 balls, and early on, they made a lot of big shots that gave them confidence," Zimmerman said of his team's first half performance.
The Panthers once again extended their lead to 19 points early in the second half, but the Eagles began to chip away with a 6-0 run with a pair of buckets from senior forward Michael Friedberg.
With eight minutes left, Friedberg contributed a pair of free throws that cut the Panthers' lead to single digits.
A frantic 11-0 Eagles run followed with scoring from five different Emory players.
Davis nailed a three-pointer with 6:02 left to make the score 65-63, the closest the Eagles had been since the opening tip.
BSC once again countered with a run that pushed the lead back to eight, but Friedberg and Davis cut it to 74-72 with just 42 seconds left.
An Emory foul sent Panthers senior guard Blaise White to the free throw line where he sank one of two to push the lead to three.
The Eagles took a timeout to draw up a play, but Davis missed three in the waning seconds and the Panthers escaped with the win.
Despite the comeback, Greven was not satisfied with the Eagles' play down the stretch.
"We never should have put ourselves in that position," he said. "In a close game, it's important to just keep fighting, regardless the circumstance."
Emory finished with a 45 percent mark from the field compared to BSC's 53.8 percent, but the real damage was done from beyond the three-point line.
The Panthers outshot the Eagles 57.7 percent to 28.6 percent from beyond the arc.
The Eagles finished with a 12 to 21 edge in turnovers but were outrebounded 33-27.
Davis, who returned from an injury that sidelined him for two games, led the team with 19 points on 8 for 17 shooting, while Greven and Friedberg both contributed 17 points a piece.
"It was nice to have Jake back," Zimmerman said. "It's always good when we have all our weapons."
The trio leading the team in scoring is nothing new for the Eagles–Davis is leading with team with 20 points per game, while Greven's 16.8 is good for second and Friedberg ranks third with 13.8.
Friedberg led the team with seven rebounds and three blocks. He has posted multiple blocks in every game this season.
Junior guard McPherson Moore rounded out the double-digit scorers with ten points.
The loss came in the Eagles' first home game in over a week.
They split two games over Thanksgiving break, the first a close 84-81 loss to LaGrange College and the second a 85-55 blowout of Maryville College (Tenn.).
Both games took place at Oglethorpe University.
Birmingham Southern was ranked as high as 12th in the nation last week, but the Eagles were not satisfied with playing the Panthers close.
"There's no such thing as a moral victory," Greven said.
The Eagles will take to the road in their next game when they visit Rhodes College on Saturday, December 1 at 5 p.m.
By Ryan Smith
